🎙️ Episode 46 Plain Language Is a Leadership Skill

Clarity isn’t soft.
 It’s not optional.
 And it’s definitely not “nice to have.”

In logistics, unclear language costs time, trust, and people.

This episode breaks down why plain language is one of the most overlooked leadership skills in the industry—and why jargon, polished ambiguity, and vague directives often protect systems at the expense of the people running them.

We talk about:

• How confusion gets normalized
• Why “everyone should already know” is a leadership failure
• And how clarity changes accountability, outcomes, and morale

Because leadership isn’t about sounding impressive.
 It’s about being understood—especially when the pressure is on.

An intro of what we do

Transcript

Hey Hey Hey it’s your girl Gia and we’re back with another adventure here at the crossroads. “If you’ve ever walked out of a logistics meeting feeling like everyone understood the plan—except you—you’re not alone.

And more importantly? You’re probably not the problem. Somewhere along the way, acronyms stopped being tools and started becoming armor. We stopped explaining things clearly and started assuming that confidence meant competence.

But here’s the truth no one says out loud:
 If your strategy only works when everyone already speaks the language, then your leadership isn’t as strong as you think it is.

Plain language isn’t about dumbing things down.
 It’s about making sure the people doing the work understand the decisions shaping their day.

Today, we’re talking about why plain language is a leadership skill—and why clarity is one of the most underrated forms of operational strength.

SEGMENT 1 — WHEN ACRONYMS STOP HELPING

Acronyms are supposed to make communication faster. They shorten long processes into a few letters so teams can move efficiently. But somewhere along the way, speed replaced understanding.

Meetings filled up with SLA, OTIF, JIT, ERP— delivered confidently, rarely explained,
 and almost never questioned.

And here’s the problem: when language becomes shorthand for authority,
 silence starts to look like agreement. People stop asking not because they don’t care—
 but because they don’t want to look unqualified for needing clarity.

SEGMENT 2 — WHO GETS LEFT OUT

This is where leadership shows itself—or doesn’t. Because jargon doesn’t affect everyone equally.

It hits hardest for:

• new hires, career switchers, frontline experts without system access,
• and seasoned workers whose experience predates the software.

These aren’t capability gaps. They’re translation gaps.

And when leaders assume understanding instead of confirming it,
 they unintentionally build rooms where only certain voices feel safe speaking.

SEGMENT 3 — TRANSLATION IS NOT WEAKNESS

There’s a myth in logistics that explaining things simply means you don’t understand them deeply.

The opposite is true. If you can’t explain a concept without acronyms,
 you don’t own the process—you’re borrowing credibility from the language.

Strong leaders translate.

They say: “Here’s what that actually means for your shift.” “Here’s what changes—and what doesn’t.” “Here’s what happens if it goes wrong.”

Plain language doesn’t slow execution.

It prevents rework. It builds trust. And it keeps people from absorbing risk they never agreed to carry.

SEGMENT 4 — SAY IT IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Let’s slow this down for a moment.

When we say Service Level Agreement, we’re really saying: “Here’s what success looks like—and who gets blamed if it’s missed.” When we say On-Time In-Full, we’re saying:
“Timing matters more than effort.” 

And when we say Just-In-Time, we’re not talking about efficiency, we’re talking about a system with no margin for error.

None of these terms are bad. But none of them are neutral either.

SEGMENT 5 — WHAT LEADERSHIP ACTUALLY SOUNDS LIKE

Leadership in logistics isn’t about sounding smart. It’s about being understood.

It sounds like checking for alignment instead of assuming it. It sounds like inviting questions before mistakes happen— not after someone’s already absorbing the fallout.

Because when language stays coded, accountability becomes uneven. And the people closest to execution pay the price.

CLOSE (measured, connective)

In the last episode, we talked about where logistics pressure begins—
 after the paperwork is done.

Today, we talked about the language used to manage that pressure. And next time, we’re going to talk about what happens when things go wrong—how metrics, timestamps, and acronyms quietly decide who gets held responsible… and who gets shielded by the system.

Keep moving steadily and I’ll continue to meet you at the crossroads.